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By Lara Mcnamee

ExxonMobil is launching the 39th year of its community summer jobs programme, providing interns for 270 non profit agencies across America for eight weeks over the summer.

Students receive a paid internship allowing them to gain hands-on experience in a wide range of community organisations and the agencies benefit from support during the peak summer months. The programme also offers professional development opportunities and encourages non profit service among students viewed as future community leaders.

ExxonMobil says it has provided $16.3m to fund nearly 4,400 internships since the programme was founded in 1971. In 2010, ExxonMobil expects to contribute around $950,000 to fund 320 positions in Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. The programme has also extended to New Jersey for the first time.

Non profit organisations selected for the programme include health, social services, education, arts and emergency assistance. While working with these organisations, interns gain hands-on experience related to their career paths, from social work and volunteer coordination to website management and marketing.

In addition to their internships, students also participate in professional development activities and group service projects in their respective cities. Interns are paid for all time spent in the programme.

For more information about the community summer jobs programme visit www.exxonmobil.com/csjp.

In the second installment, Ryan Murphy, a scientist just starting out on his career with Rhodia shares his first impressions of the chemical industry.

"I started working at Rhodia just before Christmas, so the first few weeks were pretty slow.  Normally, not being busy bothers me but it was actually really good to have time to learn general things like, how to do I use Outlook Calendar?  Where do people eat lunch?  And what route to work avoids traffic and takes me past a coffee place? 

After the holidays, things really picked up.  I started to focus on an energy-related scouting project, and it is exciting to be developing new technologies for the company. Even though the technical arena we are looking into is new to me, I was still able to immediately contribute with the technical and project management side of things, which felt great.

A few notables from my experience so far: First, there is a big difference between academia and industry when it comes to getting up to speed.  At Rhodia, I was trained in the company's safety policies and other procedures in the first days. I think when you're hired as a scientist for a company, that company is investing in you and your skills so they want to start seeing returns on that investment as quickly as possible.  It's just the nature of the business to get moving right away. It's fast-paced but the experience has actually been a lot of fun.

Second, the day-to-day work experience is quite different than in academia and government research.  Working in R&D at Rhodia requires more time in the office, in meetings and project planning.  This wasn't a shocker to me, but I bring it up because I think some scientists might consider that a turn-off.  I actually think the mix is stimulating.  Lab work can be really exciting and rewarding, but at times it can also be unbelievably frustrating and mentally taxing.  Personally I think a mixture of technical work and project planning is a perfect balance.

One last thing: It feels really nice to be doing what I love and making decent money for it!
 
That's my experience to date.  I am excited about the next few weeks. Right now everyone at Rhodia is ramping up for the inauguration of the COMPASS lab, which will bring together the upper management from the CNRS, Rhodia North America, Rhodia France and the principal investigators from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as outside guests for a two-day symposium and ceremony. It will be interesting to hear the feedback about the lab's format, projects and future opportunities.  Stay tuned..."

•    Ryan Murphy joined Rhodia in December 2009 and is a senior scientist at Rhodia's Center for Research and Technology in Bristol, Pennsylvania in the US.

Click here if you missed Ryan's first entry and introduction.

Image shows Claire Dillon receiving the Institution of Chemical Engineers North Western Branch Award for Contribution to the Business 2009 from Dr Ian McConvey from Institution of Chemical Engineers.

It's hard enough to find new recruits in the chemical sector, but a new study considers why so few women are tempted to pursue a career in science and engineering.

Published by AAUW - the American Association of University Women, the report considers the various challenges faced by women entering the industry, including stereotypes and gender bias. It also looks at initiatives that can help to attract women to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM).

Download a copy of the report: Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

A recent issue of ICIS Chemical Business looked at how chemical companies are maintaining the drive to hire new talent.


Although the downturn has hit graduate recruitment, many chemical companies are still striving to win access to talent that will be vital for growth

CHARLIE SHAW/LONDON

For companies the world over, redundancies have been an unfortunate consequence of the fiscal slump. Ever at the mercy of changeable consumer markets, the chemical sector has been no exception to this.

Of those that have not had to resort to such measures, sustaining existing workforces has been the challenge and, in a bid to look after the old talent, some initiatives for attracting new talent have either been reduced in size or axed altogether.

Other companies, though, look beyond the downturn and continue to search for the best talent.

"As you know, the recession has been particularly tough for us. We've not been expanding for some time now," comments one UK-based human resources official from a European chemicals supplier. "There's been less of a focus on finding new talent and when we've had openings, we've been obliged to fill these internally where possible," he adds.

Some of his equivalents at other companies make similar observations, highlighting that when it comes to recruitment, there are some obvious regional differences. The relatively early recovery of the German economy, for example, means recruiting there has picked up more quickly than in countries such as the UK, where the recession has been more protracted. Also, sources point out that staff losses are incurred as a result of downsizing, which becomes more prevalent in hard times.

Continue reading the article...

By Lara Mcnamee

Evonik Industries has produced its latest Sustainability publication Amazing Answers to the Next Big Thing: Sustainability in which it talks about how it sees vocational training as being an investment in the future for young people, companies, and even industrial regions.

Evonik states that it gives people starting their careers lifelong opportunities through vocational training. In 2009, 600 young people began their apprenticeships at its Group companies. This it says is 9%, the apprentice ratio at Evonik which it claims is "well above average" for the German industry, which is at an average of 6.5%.  

The company offers over 40 vocational training courses that lead to officially recognized qualifications. Evonik invests around €57m/year in vocational training for young people.

The company believes that the number of people graduating from school is declining and that is reducing the size of the potential labour force. The company is currently preparing around 2,300 apprentices for future employment.

For more on Evonik's vocational training opportunities please click here.